GRAHAM SPIERS, Chief Sports Writer May 08 2006

Rangers 2 - 0 Hearts

When the end came for Alex McLeish, the applause was gracious and lavish. Following yesterday's final whistle Ibrox stood and gave a fine ovation to a manager bowing out after four and a half tumultuous years. At the end of a hard, often bitter season, a fond farewell was in the air, as well as a sense of anticipation.

Paul Le Guen's arrival is imminent, and the game was meaningless, though this occasion at Ibrox certainly wasn't. As Dado Prso put it afterwards: "Today was more than just a game. We wanted to play well for the gaffer after his time and trophies here."

At the final whistle McLeish at first looked unsure about what to do. Throughout his career, both as a player and a manager, he has never been one for exhibitionism. There was also the memory of Dick Advocaat's final game at Ibrox in December, 2001 – the night when McLeish sat in the stand waiting to take over – when the Dutchman vacated this arena with scarcely a wave to the crowd.

Yesterday, though, as McLeish momentarily hesitated, the applause grew louder and louder for him until it was ringing around Ibrox. It was a rousing, memorable moment: as if there was a sudden dawning that the seven trophies he brought to Rangers in his first three and a half years could not be regarded as anything other than a fine achievement.

Walking to the centre circle, McLeish duly revelled in the reception, and paid his own homage back to the Rangers fans. Later, he still looked visibly affected by it.

"I was overwhelmed – I felt humbled and honoured," said McLeish of his ovation. "It was a moment I'll never forget. I'm just No.11 in a line of Rangers managers but I've won trophies here and I like to think my record stands comparison with some of the great managers."

So it was time, once more and finally, to ask McLeish to reflect on his experience at the club. Almost everybody recognises that Rangers – with the club's institutional cachet in Scotland, its great history and its vast, often highly-critical fanbase – is one of the hottest managerial seats in British football. McLeish has discovered that along the way.

"There have been successes and there have been failures," he said. "I've won trophies here but this season we've ended without a trophy, and in that sense we've failed domestically. But we achieved in the Champions League, which I am proud of.

"People told me to walk away earlier – to go with my dignity. I got plenty of advice on that front. But that's not in my make-up. If I had walked out of Rangers then, I'd have felt I had lost my dignity. It was a bad time, but I survived it, I'm still here.

"I had bad results and sleepless nights. We went to Kilmarnock in December and could have gone five points behind Killie in fifth place if they'd beaten us. But we won there, and our results have been fairly reasonable since.

"I'm leaving the club in a healthier state financially than the day I arrived. That is never a manager's goal, of course, but during that time of trying to put the house in order, there has still been success. I think it was Bill Struth who made comments about showing tolerance in times of failure. And Rangers will always come back again."

So now to his future. When McLeish will be back again in football is a moot question. He is adamant he wants time out from the game, though football has a history of supposedly sabbatical-taking managers quickly gagging for the dugout.

"It's time to go," he said. "I want a break. I want to come back refreshed, with all my guns blazing." The chances of him being back in a dugout come August? "Zero," he replied, with a faint smile.

Asked if he had advice for Le Guen, McLeish, scarcely pausing to draw breath, replied: "Don't get injuries." It is the one factor which, in private, he feels has ruptured Rangers this season.

The atmosphere was flat at Ibrox, as you can imagine, and it wasn't exactly conducive to a big send-off for McLeish. There seemed a few thousand less than the 49,792 officially stated as the attendance, with a number of empty seats in all four stands.

The psychological battle of the crowd was fun to observe. The gloating Hearts fans goaded the home support via various ditties about their Champions League displacement and, in a display of blatant couldn't-care-less, even theatrically opened newspapers and began to read them as the match got underway, indicating that they couldn't give a monkey's about the game. The visiting supporters even wildly cheered at Rangers' opening goal.

The famous Ibrox atmosphere brings many things to Rangers, but the one area where visiting supporters always know they can press home the advantage is in humour. As the Edinburgh hordes kept up a ridiculous repertoire, the home support responded with a droning "We Are The People", an Ibrox reminder that, all humour apart, there is a certain pecking-order in Scottish society which shouldn't be forgotten.

On the field, meanwhile, we had a shadow Hearts side, including quite a few mysterious characters signed up to this Vladimir Romanov circus. Blokes like Mirsad Beslija, Nerijus Barasa and Martin Petras were unleashed on Rangers, if "unleashed" is the word for this fag-end affair. Frankly, there have been more riveting occasions than this at the Scottish Theological club.

The greatest note of intrigue came when referee Iain Brines mysteriously prevented Prso from gaining the advantage when Petras tried and failed to haul the Rangers striker to the ground when he was through on goal. Brines called Prso back just as he was about to shoot, and the home supporters were rightly livid at the decision.

Their pique was even greater when, straight from Rangers' wasted free-kick, Hearts raced straight up the park and nearly scored themselves through Michal Pospisil. It had seemed, in that split-second, that the referee had made a rash decision.

Rangers' opener came after 35 minutes when Kris Boyd headed past Hearts' reserve keeper Steve Banks from Peter Løvenkrands' corner. It was a goal celebrated literally all around the stadium.

Rangers scored a wonderful second after 73 minutes, at least in the penetrating midfield run made by Gavin Rae down the right and his beautifully weighted pass across the face of goal to Boyd. The striker slammed his second past Banks from seven yards.

Taken from the Herald